Things To Be Thankful For
by alexatm
Summary: AU. It's Thanksgiving and Olivia Pope is trying to get a crumb cake for he pregnant sister, but the only one left in the store is already sold to no other that President Fitzgerald Grant. They had never met before, he is divorced, she recently started moved to DC and started her firm and it all begins with a chance encounter at a NYC bakery.
1. Chapter 1

_**AN: I own nothing, this characters belong to the evil genious Shonda Rhimes and abc. **_**_Carlo's bakery stuff belong to Buddy Valastro.  
><em>**

_**So I got this idea for a Holiday fic about these two and I couldn't help myself, even though I should be updating another story. This is completely AU, she didn't work on his campaign, he divorced Mellie a few months after he was elected and she recently moved back to DC and started her firm, and destiny brought them together over baked goods.**_

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><p>Olivia Pope was walking out from a meeting with one of her clients who had just moved from DC to Manhattan, she had only started her crisis management firm earlier that year so she was doing everything in her power to make sure she made a great impression on all of her clients, even if it meant traveling on thanksgiving and risking not making it to dinner at her sister's house back in Washington. She had a flight at 5 pm and it was only 2:30 pm at the moment so she figured out she had time to go to Carlo's bakery for one of his famous crumb cakes, which her pregnant sister had a wild craving for.<p>

There was plenty of traffic but she managed to get there, she walked in and surprisingly it was kind of empty, she was about to ask why but she quickly figured it out, the store had barely anything left on it's shelves.

"Excuse me" she approached the person behind the counter, she feared it was a lost cause but wanted to ask anyway, before she continued talking she saw one of the chefs coming in with a freshly baked crumb cake. "Oh, look at that, just what I came in here for"

The employee saw what she was looking at and looked at Olivia apologetically.

"Miss, I'm sorry, but that crumb cake is already sold, it's a special order, we don't have any to sell right now, we got pretty much wiped out earlier, but we are already working on re stocking ourselves for later" she explained to Olivia.

"Seriously! I can't come back later I have a flight at 5, I'm actually taking a pretty big risk being here now, are you sure this person is coming?"

"I'm sorry but we can't sell you that cake, there are other delicious treats you can buy though" She told Olivia.

"No I can't" she paused to look at her name tag "Jane, my sister is pregnant and she's craving crumb cake form here"

"Well you can make an order and it can be shipped to your home, it only takes a couple of days" Jane suggested.

"She's pregnant Jane, you can't tell a pregnant woman to delay her cravings" she insisted and she leaned on the counter to take a look at the ticket placed on the box of the neatly packed cake. "It says there it was supposed to be picked up an hour ago, don't like they loose their reservation?" she said exasperated.

"Well yeah, but it's a very important costumer and they called saying they'll be here soon, I really can't sell it" Jane replied nervously. "Maybe I can see if we could get one shipped to you tomorrow"

"Come on Jane, it's thanksgiving and my sister is expecting me to show up to dinner with her crumb cake, if your client is late anyway why don't you sell me that one and give him one of the new ones you are baking when they finally show up" Olivia was not used to being told no and she was not backing down.

"I'm sorry, but we can't do that with this client, it has to be ready when they come" Jane was really intimidated by Olivia. "Actually…" Jane saw the SUVs pulling up outside and thanked god it would be over, but Olivia interrupted her before she finished her sentence.

"Look Jane, I don't care if it's the President of the United States, they are not here and I am, and I will not fly back to DC empty handed to tell my pregnant sister I couldn't get her crumb cake from Carlo's" Olivia was so wrapped up in her rant that she didn't realize the agents coming in to clear the place, Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III, the POTUS himself, was right outside, he was on New York city for a meeting and since he was there already he had decided to get a crumb cake from Carlo's because it was his kids favorite. He had decided to go in to see what else he could get, and he found himself deeply puzzled by the woman trying to take his cake.

Jane had gone awfully quiet, she hadn't expected for the President to actually go into the bakery, Olivia looked at her wondering why she wasn't saying anything, and right before she asked, she heard someone clearing his throat behind her.

"Well I usually wouldn't do this, but if it's that important to you I'm sure we can work something out" Fitz said with a smirk. Olivia froze on the spot, she knew that voice, she'd heard it on TV a million times, that was indeed the POTUS. She stood there looking at Jane, for a sign that she had mistaken that voice, but the look on the woman's face told her she was right. She realized she had been quiet for too long and finally gathered the courage to turn around.

"Mr. President, I'm sorry, I had no idea this was yours, I just wanted to exhaust all options to not leave empty handed, I'll just place an order to get one delivered" She said with a smile, trying hard to compose herself, the man was even more handsome than he looked on TV and after she saw him she had a hard time thinking straight.

Fitz had been taken aback by the mysterious woman since he walked inside, her voice, the way she talked and what he was able to see from her backside, but the moment she turned around he was astonished, he thought that was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He locked eyes with her and he could see her blushing, one of his agents, Tom, cleared his throat and he was reminded it was his turn to speak.

"I did hear you saying, you didn't care care if it was mine" he made a quick decision to tease her about her rant. She felt her cheeks get even warmer, and struggled to find the right words.

"That was just the heat of the moment, right Jane" she turned to the young woman again "Could you please place me an order so I can get one delivered" Jane was brought of the shock of the scene she had just witnessed and busied herself finding the papers for the order.

"No I insist Miss…" he waited to know her name.

"Pope, Olivia Pope" She told him coyly.

"I wouldn't want your pregnant sister to be upset Miss Pope, I can share" he smiled at her and she could feel her knees going weak.

"That's not necessary, she'll be fine" Olivia was beyond embarrassed that he had heard her outburst, and even more that he was trying to comply to her wishes.

"Jane right" the young woman was startled, after all it was the President calling her by her first name, she couldn't find her words so she just nodded. "Could you please split that cake in half so Miss Pope doesn't leave this place empty handed" She nodded again and went to find a knife and a couple of new boxes.

"No, Jane just place my order, actually, I can do that online, I should get going I'm going to miss my flight" Olivia started moving but Fitz was right in her way.

"Please, Miss Pope I insist, I can also place an order to get more cake delivered tomorrow and this way neither of us goes home tonihgt without cake" The way he was looking at her, she found her resolve disappearing, and she wasn't about to keep arguing with him so she finally agreed and Jane hurried to pack the two smaller cakes and place both orders, she handed them the boxes and their receipts and they prepared to leave.

"Thank you, Mr. President, you really didn't have to" she smiled at him and he nearly lost it.

"It was my pleasure" he extended his hand and she hesitantly took it, the moment their hands touched, it was like a bolt of electricity passed them through, neither wanted to let go but after a while they both knew they had to. However Fitz wasn't ready to let her go so soon without trying anything.

"Hmm, I heard you are flying back to DC, I could give you a lift to the airport" he offered.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, I'll just take a cab" she was tempted to say yes, just to spend a little more time with him, but she thought it would be i inappropriate and also wanted to put the whole thing behind her and stop thinking about him the way she was at the moment.

"Are you sure? it's thanksgiving, it might be hard to get one, and also I can bypass traffic, I'm guessing your flight is soon" he was not giving up so easily. She thought about it and realized he had a point, the whole ordeal had taken a considerable amount of time, it was past 3:30 and she was in serious risk of missing the flight. She told herself it was rude to decline an offer from the President and told him yes before she had time to change her mind.

She was quiet for most of the ride to the airport, even though the motorcade could ignore traffic rules it was still taking them too long to get there, she was worried she might not make it there. He figured what she was thinking, since she had told him the flight was at 5, at first he felt bad for her missing her flight, but then he saw an opportunity, if they didn't make it he had an excuse to offer her a spot on AF1, after all he was going to DC too.

It was past five when they finally made it to the airport, he could see how anxious she was, she said it was fine and that she was going to find another flight so she could get there even if she was a little late, but she had been trying to get a new reservation for a while and they kept telling her all flights were completely booked.  
>"Olivia, can I call you that?" he wasn't sure if he could start using her first name yet<p>

"Yeah it's ok" she replied

"Hmm, you know I'm going to DC too, and I mean I got plenty of space on my plane" She couldn't believe her ears, the President of the United States was offering her a ride on Air Force One. She was speechless for a moment.

"Mr. President, are you… you mean…" she stuttered

"Yes Olivia I am asking you to fly home with me on Air Force One" he said with a smirk.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, I'll just go now and try to get a new flight" She was freaking out.

"It's thanksgiving, everything is booked, and it would be a shame if you didn't make it there after all the trouble you went through to get that cake" She blushed at the mention of the cake, but again he had a point, however she still thought it was inappropriate to offer an almost complete stranger a ride on AF1.

"Yeah, but sir, you don't even know me, like I don't think you are supposed to bring random people aboard Air Force One, what if I was dangerous" she tried to make her point.

"I'm sure you are not, maybe Jane would say otherwise, but I think you are harmless" he said with a chuckle. "Besides I racked my brain figuring out why your name sounded familiar, you do crisis management in DC, you have made quite an impression on some folks, I've heard your firm being mentioned a few times you are quite outstanding, oh and please call me Fitz, or at least don't call me sir, it makes me feel old" Olivia couldn't believe the President had heard of her and her work and even called her outstanding, she blushed ten shades of red.

"I don't think either of those is appropriate" she said to him, she wouldn't even consider using his first name

"Well it's my plane and I am free to bring anyone along with me, and if you think I should make sure you are not a threat I can fix that real fast right Tom" he said the last part a little louder for Tom to hear, and dropped the subject of his first name for the moment.

"Yes sir" the agent replied

"Could you get our boys to run a quick background check on Miss Pope" He asked

"Right away sir" Tom got his phone and made a quick call

"You are free to do as you please, but I insist you accept my offer, it would make my trip home way more pleasant and you would make it to your sister's dinner" They had been at the airport for a few minutes and he could see she was eager to get out of the SUV.

"Sir, she's good to go, not even a speeding ticket" Tom said out loud

"So?" Fitz was looking at her, his bright blue eyes boring right through her, a playful smirk on his face, and she just couldn't say no.

"Ok Mr. President, I will accept your offer, thank you" she finally said

"It's settled then, let get going guys" the agents nodded and the motorcade started moving to go to the hangar.

They got there quite fast, when they came to a stop at the tarmac, the agents got out and opened the doors on both sides of the SUV so they could get out. She was on the opposite side of the plane so when she walked around and finally saw it she nearly fainted. Fitz turned to her extending his arm.

"Ladies first" he motioned for her to walk ahead of him. She wasn't sure she could make a full sentence so she started walking, she reached the stairs and stopped for a moment to take it all in. When she finally made it up to the door she froze, her brain finally catching up with the situation, she stumbled back a little bit and crashed against his chest, Olivia hadn't realized how close he was. He put his hands on the sides of her arms to help her regain her balance, but the contact only made it worse.

"Are you ok?" concern clear in his voice

"Yeah, it's just that this is amazing, I was just a bit shocked that's all" she tried to hide her nervousness, he didn't let go of her arms until she started moving again.

After they had taken their seats, Fitz asked for drinks and snacks to be brought to them. She was quiet just looking at everything, trying to commit to memory every detail of the plane, she was even tempted to take a selfie so her sister would believe her. On the other hand Fitz was doing the same with her, he just couldn't take his eyes off of her, he just wanted to memorize all of her features, to freeze the moment in his head for the inevitable moment in which they would part ways. Eventually she got that very distinct feeling of being watched and turned her face to him, he blushed and looked away, Olivia noticed his reaction and suppressed a smile.

"So… Olivia, hmm… have you been on the crisis management business for long?" he decided to start up conversation, he wanted desperately to know more about her.

"Kind of yeah, I mean I've been in that line of work for a while but I started my own firm this year"

"Well you have made quite an impression in a short time, what made you start you own firm?" he asked her.

"It's a long story" she replied with a small laugh

"Which I will be pleased to hear" she blushed, Fitz smiled at her to encourage her to talk.

"I worked for a big company in the United Kingdom, I lived in London, I was doing really well until they started asking me to cover up for some questionable things, then questionable turned into completely illegal and I refused to do their dirty work, they told me I had to if I wanted to keep my job so naturally I resigned" She took a deep breath, her mind getting a little lost in memory "I missed my family and my home so I figured I might as well move back here, a good friend from the company who also left his job, suggested I start my own business and offered to move here too, I contacted a few old friends from college, and here we are" she had been looking at her hands almost the whole time, when she was done she looked up to find a pair of blue eyes looking at her like she was the most interesting person it the world.

"Wow, you really are impressive" that was all he managed to get out, and this time he didn't stop looking at her even after she noticed him. She was getting uncomfortable with the silence, and the fact that it was The President looking at her like that, so she figured it was her turn to make him talk.

"So, Mr. President, are you also a fan of Carlo's bakery?" she went for the most unimportant topic she could think of.

"My kids are, my parents took them to Carlo's a couple of years ago and they love everything, but their favorite is the crumb cake" a big smile appeared on his lips as he thought about his children, she found it endearing.

They continued the conversation mostly talking about food, she told him about her favorite places in DC and he talked about a few places he missed from California. The conversation flowed easily, and for a moment there it wasn't The President talking to someone he just met, they just felt like two normal people who had known each other for a while just hanging out and enjoying the moment.

Their flight was coming to and end, the captain made the announcement they would be landing soon, he knew he wanted to see her again but wasn't sure how to go about it.

"Can I have your number?" he blurted out without thinking. She panicked a little bit and went onto fixer mode.

"Do you have a crisis that needs fixing?" he was caught off guard by her response, but he played along with it.

"Hmm, yeah I am, you know, I got divorced a few months ago and my image took a huge hit and it seems like my boys at the white house could take some lessons from you" he figured that as long as he kept seeing her it didn't matter if it was for work, it was a start.

She dug inside her purse searching for her business cards, when she found them, she took one out and handed it to him, he took it grazing her fingers in the process and placed it inside his wallet to avoid losing it.

A few minutes later they were descending into the tarmac, Fitz' motorcade was already waiting for him there, and it was then that it hit her, she was not sure how could she get a ride from there to her sister's and she would not allow for him to take her there, after all he had done already, and knowing his kids were waiting for him at the White House. Just as if he could read her thoughts he spoke up.

"I have arranged for a car to take you wherever you need to go" he told her with a smile. The plane had come to a complete stop and she could hear the agents opening the door already, she jus sat there unable to wrap her head around how incredible that man was.

"Thank you, again, you really didn't have to" she finally said. They both got up and went for the exit, they got down and it was moment to say goodbye. He walked her to the car and they stood there quietly for a moment.

"I guess this was my lucky day" she was the one who broke the silence.

"No Miss Pope, it was mine" he opened the door for her, and before she had a chance to move he leaned in and kissed her cheek "Happy Thanksgiving" he said to her and took a step back. Her mind went blank for a moment but then she reminded herself she had to do something so she got in the car.

"Happy Thanksgiving Mr. President" she managed to get out right before he closed the door and walked away.

They parted ways, both unable to stop smiling and looking forward to seeing each other again.

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><p><em><strong>AN2: I hope you guys enjoyed, please review, let me know what you think! :)<br>**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN: First of all I just want to thank you all for the response I got for this, seriosuly I didn't see it coming, I am deeply grateful for all the favorites, follows and reviews, you guys all rock. So here is the second chapter finally, I hope to be able to update sooner now that finals are over. I hope you guys enjoy :)**_

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><p>It was monday after thanksgiving and Fitz was holding Olivia's card in front of him, wondering if it was a good time to call already, he just really wanted to see her again. His thoughts were interrupted by a very stressed out chief of staff barging into his office, so he put down the card and pretended to be working.<p>

"Cyrus, what mess brings you here now?" Fitz asked calmly

"Nothing, I just got pissed at the freshest article shaming you for divorcing, seriously, we are doing so much great work in this administration and that's all they focus on" He replied exasperated.

"Why did I not know about that?" Fitz had no idea what Cyrus was so pissed about, he knew he was still getting hate, but he hadn't heard of a recent article.

"Just came out, I told people to not tell you, I just wanted you to focus on your morning meeting" Cyrus told him.

"I can handle it Cy, don't you worry" Fitz knew that what his chance to suggest calling Olivia's team "Also, I've been thinking we should get an external consultant, you know for public image and crisis management, I know this is not precisely a crisis, since it happened months ago but it is still a problem, and the guys here haven't done much to fix it" Fitz waited for Cyrus to consider his idea, but the old man nodded almost immediately.

"I had actually been thinking the same, do you have anyone in mind?" Cyrus had an idea, but he wasn't sure if Fitz would be ok with it.

"I do, yeah, Olivia Pope and Associates, it's a new firm but I've heard great things about them" Fitz was waiting for Cyrus to argue and say they should get a firm with more experience, but instead his eyes went wide with surprise.

"Well this is weird, it's exactly who I had in mind" Cyrus wasn't sure how he got the idea, but was very glad it went that way.

"Really?" Fitz was surprised as well. "I thought you would fight me to get a team with more experience" Cyrus laughed, since he thought the same argument would come from Fitz.

"If it was any other new firm I would have, but I actually know Olivia Pope, she was my student in Law School, If she hadn't been out of the country I would have called her for your campaign" Cyrus explained.

Fitz listened to Cyrus talking about her and thought the world was indeed very small, he decided to withhold the information about meeting her and flying back to DC together, he knew Cyrus would not be so cool about it even if he knew Olivia; Fitz had just met her and Cy would give him the same argument she did for not wanting to travel with him before she finally agreed.

Before Cyrus left the office he told Fitz he would make the call to Olivia's office, but he said he would rather do it himself, saying that he didn't want her to think she just got the job because she knew his chief of staff, he agreed and right after he closed the door, Fitz started dialing the number.

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><p>Olivia was at her office hanging out with Emily, her sister, she spent a lot of time at OPA since the boss was her sister and her husband, Harrison Wright, worked there too; also she had taken a break from her job as an ER nurse when she got pregnant, Harrison was doing well with Olivia and she just wanted to focus on the baby.<br>"So… has he called yet?" Emily asked her sister.

"No, and I'm sure it could be a while even if he does, he might have just been trying to be nice" Olivia replied.

"Yeah, I don't think so, a man that after just meeting you, shares his Carlo's crumb cake, gives you a ride to the airport and when you miss your flight, also gives you ride back here on his plane is not just trying to be nice" After Emily heard Olivia's story on thursday she had being insisting the President was interested in her and gushing about how great it would be, Olivia simply rolled her eyes at her and told her to stop making such a big deal out of it.

"Em seriously, you are blowing this out of proportion" Olivia said exasperated

"He did ask for you number" She argued

"Because of work" Olivia argued back.

"If I recall your story correctly, that is not what happened, the man asked for your number and you turned into a work related thing" Emily was not backing down so easily, she just had a gut feeling something good could come out of that meeting. Olivia regretted not changing that part of the story when she told it to her sister.

"Why else would he want my contact information" Olivia also had no intention of giving in.

"You are impossible Olivia, but time will prove me right"

Olivia was about to keep arguing with Emily but her phone started ringing, so she took a breath and went into gladiator more to answer it.

"Olivia Pope and Associates, this is Olivia" she said politely.

"I have to say, I'm really pleased to hear you answer your own phone" Fitz was really happy he didn't have to go through a secretary or assistant to talk to her. Upon hearing his voice she flushed and wasn't sure how to respond, the reaction didn't go unnoticed by Emily, who just squinted her eyes at her.

Olivia didn't want that conversation to happen in front of her sister so she told Fitz to hold on a moment and covered the receiver to tell her it was a client and she needed the room. Emily thought it was weird how Liv reacted when she answered and desperately wanted to know what the call was about, she knew there was a chance it was the President, but decided to do as she was told and find out later.

"I'm sorry, I had to clear my office" she told him.

"Are you busy, because I can call back" Fitz wanted to talk to her but he didn't want her to disturb her work schedule just because he was the President.

"No it's ok, really" she replied immediately. "What can I help you with"

"I want to hire your firm to work on my image" he went straight to the point.

"Oh, wow… that is… I… We would be honored" she stuttered, and he smiled to himself.

"Great then, I will see you here tomorrow at 11 am, there will be pass waiting for you at the gate" He hung up the phone, despite wanting to talk to her more, he didn't want to give her a chance to argue.

Olivia sat back in her chair, a million things going through her head, she was still not sure what had just happened, a part of her thought she was dreaming. She just sat there thinking about the meeting and how she would prepare for it when her sister walked back into the office followed by Harrison, Olivia was just there looking at the ceiling and they exchanged worried looks.

"Everything ok?" Emily asked her. Olivia snapped out of her thoughts and stared briefly at Em, trying to figure out what to tell her. Eventually she realized there was no point lying since she would find out eventually.

"That was the President" Oliva finally said.

"Oh my god! I told you, this is great" She said excitedly

"Wait what" Harrison said confused "What President, you don't meant the President of the United State do you?" Olivia still in shock and Emily lost in excitement they forgot that Harrison didn't know about what happened on thanksgiving.

"Oh but she does" Emily said with a smile, Olivia just looked worried.

Olivia was tempted to let her sister tell the story, but she knew she would twist the story to fit her crazy theories, so she proceeded to explain the whole thing to Harrison. Needless to say he agreed with his wife but dropped the subject after Olivia glared at him. They started talking about a plan for the President so Emily excused herself and let them work; when they were done Olivia asked him to wait until after the meeting before he told the rest of team.

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><p>Olivia tossed and turned almost all night, too anxious to sleep well and the moments she managed to doze off she ended up dreaming about him. She got up earlier than usual and took a shower, then she spent a great deal of time trying to decide on the perfect outfit, she almost emptied her closet in the process and finally decided on a black dress with white laced sleeves, and a white coat, then she straightened her hair and applied make-up.<p>

She could only make herself have a cup of tea for breakfast and she left her apartment in a hurry even though she had plenty of time to get there. The only thing that made her feel better was that she knew Cyrus would probably be there, she hadn't talked to him in a while but she knew he was Chief of Staff. Just like Fitz had said, there was a pass waiting for her, she was told how to get to the west wing, she was about 15 minutes early, so she decided to go tell Fitz' secretary she was already there.

"Excuse Miss, I'm Olivia Pope, I have a meeting with the President at 11, so I just wanted to let you know I'm here already" She explained the lady behind the desk.

"Of course Miss Pope, I was told to let you in as soon as you got here" Olivia got a bit more nervous but did her best to hide it. Lauren got up to take Olivia into the Oval.

"Thank you, also, can I have your name, considering I might be coming here a few more times" Olivia asked politely, she always preferred to use peoples names if it was ok with them.

"It's Lauren" the woman replied with a smile before she opened the door. She thought Olivia was quite nice, most people didn't even bother to look at her, not to even mention the former First Lady who was just plain rude.

Olivia walked slowly inside the Oval Office, for a moment she was to stunned to move past the door, Fitz was sitting at his desk and he seemed to be very concentrated on some papers he was reading, upon realizing that Olivia was not going to interrupt him or move anymore, Lauren cleared her throat. Fitz looked up immediately and was taken aback by the sight in front of him.  
>Fitz muttered a thank you to Lauren and she stepped out, closing the door behind her, Olivia was barely inside the office and when she locked eyes with Fitz her brain just stopped trying to make her move. He got up and walked towards her, but stopped a couple of feet away, he had his hands in his pockets, he could see she was uncomfortable and didn't want to make it worse.<p>

"Hi" he finally said.

"Hi" she whispered back to him.

"Hmm, please take a seat" he was forcing his brain back to reality. He motioned to the couch and waited for her to walk there. He took a seat across from her. "It's great to see you again… So did your sister enjoy her cake?" He asked with a smile. Olivia let out a small laugh, she was finally relaxing.

"Yeah, she did, she almost didn't believe me when I told her how I got it" Olivia could still hear her yelling "no way" as they put away food after dinner.

"I think it was what writers would call a meet cute" he said with a flirty tone and she blushed. "So, Olivia, tell me about yourself, I mean I just like to know the people I work with to know I can trust them and we barely got anywhere a few days ago" he said the last part to ease the tension.

"Well, the firm is me, and my best friends from college and law school, Abby Whelan, Stephen Finch, Harrison Wright, who is also married to my sister, Huck Finn who is our tech guy oh and there is a new girl, Quinn Perkins, that Abby got from her previous job, you can have all of them checked" She explained.

"I might have to just for protocol, but if you trust them then I do too" He was quiet for a moment wondering if he would be able to get her to actually talk about herslef, knowing that once Cyrus got there he would loose his chance to talk about anything besides the job. "Do you have any other siblings?"

"Yes, a younger brother" she replied.

"May I ask their names, I don't want to meet them knowing them just as the pregnant sister and the younger brother" he said told her, she tried to ignore the fact that he implied he would meet them at some point.

"Her name is Emily and his name is Gabriel" She wondered if they were going to talk about the job anytime soon.

Fitz had other ideas in mind so he kept asking personal questions, he asked if she always spent the holidays with her sister, so she told him that they usually go to their parents in Vermont, he also asked her more about her friends at the firm and how her friend and sister got together; he also asked how her move to DC had gone and if she liked it there. Finally he told her to fire away if she wanted to know anything about him.

"I already know you have a brother named James, your mom Katherine and well your dad is a pretty famous man himself, also you have two children Jerry and Karen, the media has got you covered Mr. President" Olivia purposely avoided mentioning the ex-wife.

"I guess they do, but I mean they don't know I love four cheese pizza and that my favorite color is blue" he said again, flirting.

"Well, the color does suit you, it matches your eyes" she said before she could stop herself. She worried about the direction their conversation was taking, but she was saved by Cyrus coming into the office.

"Olivia!" he nearly screamed, he got to her and she stood to give him a hug "It's great to see you"

"It's great to see you too Cyrus, I hope you don't give the President much trouble" She said after they broke part. Fitz laughed.

"Just the necessary" Cyrus told them both.

They all sat down again and Cyrus went straight to business, he told her about all the awful things that where said about him, he also told her how the White House had handled it, how they were still handling it. What she already knew is that they barely gave out any information, which is what caused most of the issues, along with the fact that he announced the divorce alone and they first lady was barely seen after that. Olivia needed to know as much as she could but she wasn't sure if it was ok to just ask why they got divorced to the President; but a few moments later it was as if Cyrus read her mind.

"Sir, I think she has to know, like the whole thing" he said to Fitz in a low voice. Fitz never wanted to talk about what happened, but he knew he could trust Olivia.

"Yeah you are right" he took a deep breath "The reason we got divorced is because she cheated on me, repeatedly, and with many people"

Olivia was quiet for a moment, she just didn't understand how could someone cheat on him, she already had a feeling the marriage fell apart because of her, from what she saw it never looked like she really cared for him, so she assumed he got tired of it, not that she had screwed up so damn bad. She started thinking people wouldn't be so harsh on him if they knew, but then it hit her, the reason he kept it under wraps.

"And you said nothing about it to protect your children, even though it destroyed your image, that makes sense" she finally told him, he just nodded, it was nice to see someone understood, Cyrus had begged him to expose Mellie and get it over with.

It was almost time for lunch, so Fitz arranged for food to be brought to them, they would eat while his team put together all the files Olivia had required; she needed everything they had released, also all the surveys and polls they had made, and the articles from the most important media outlets. Since it was actually a few boxes, and it didn't seem right to crowd the Oval Office with it, they were placed in a conference room nearby.

When they were done with lunch Cyrus left for a meeting and she told Fitz she would go get started with the files, and he insisted on going with her, arguing he wanted to be involved with whatever needed to be done, and that work was not heavy at the moment. He had a meeting later in the evening, but until then he was free to spend time with her.

* * *

><p>It was nearing 8 pm so Fitz had to leave for his meeting. Time had passed quite fast for both of them since they didn't just work the entire time, Fitz kept distracting her with anecdotes from the campaign and his first months as President, and she couldn't help enjoying his stories. They also had dinner there, Fitz had ordered Chinese food, she hadn't expected the President to be the kind of guy who just ordered take out, but it was a nice surprise.<p>

Cyrus arrived right after Fitz had gotten up to say goodbye to her, he cursed in his head for the interruption, but he didn't know Cyrus was carrying news that would bring him a great joy.  
>"Sir" Cyrus greeted him<p>

"Yeah I know, the meeting, I was just leaving" Fitz said reluctantly

"Right, but that's not it" Cyrus replied

"Then what is it?" Fitz asked confused

"We are snowed in" Cyrus said bitterly

"What!" Both Fitz and Olivia said at the same time.

"I guess we were all to occupied to see, but this huge storm just swooped in, the roads are blocked, most of the staff has already left." He explained "I already told James, we'll just use the usual room"

"Sure, no problem, I'll just ask the staff to get another guest room ready for Olivia" He said trying to hide a smile.

"What" she said again "I can't stay, I have to go, this is not ok" she suddenly regained all the stress she had lost during the afternoon.

"It's unsafe for you to leave, you probably won't even be able to drive, he said the roads are blocked" Fitz said pointing to Cyrus.

"He is right Liv, it's still snowing pretty hard, and I heard it's already past knee deep, that's why I'm staying, it's no big deal" Without knowing, he was being a great help to Fitz, Olivia couldn't deny they both had a point and after hearing it from Cyrus she realized she had to put whatever went through her head about Fitz aside and just stay for her safety.

"I guess you are right" she told them "I'm staying then, I'll just call the office, they were expecting me back there soon" she took her phone and excused herself from the room.

Fitz was already running late for his meeting so he and Cyrus left right after, while he got there he called the residence staff to let them know and asked Cyrus to call James so he could take Olivia with him whenever he was done for the night. After Olivia ended her call she got a text from Fitz telling her to wait for James at the conference room, for a moment she wondered if she had made the right call agreeing to give him her personal phone number after he complained of only having her office number.

Olivia hated to admit it, but after spending so many hours with him, she thought her sister might be right about the President and his attitude towards her. However her logical side was telling her to stop thinking such nonsense, that he could not possibly be interested in her and to not even consider thinking about him that way; but knowing she'd be spending the night so close to him, it would be quite a hard thing to accomplish.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: We got snowed in Olitz! So she will be spending a lot more time with him than she thought and it's making her quite nervous, she is totally trying to fight the fact that he is into her and that she feels the same way, there is a reason for her feeling so insecure and it will be explained later. She will get to meet his kids on the next chapter, hopefully they will love her; also Cyrus will find out about the incident in NY so he will begin to get suspicious about Fitz' intentions with Olivia, how do you think he will react? Please let me know what you guys think :)<br>**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**AN: Here is chapter 3 (aka the snow day) Olivia gets to know Fitz a little better and there is a small clue about her past, also she gets to meet the kids and hang out with them. I hope you guys enjoy :)**_

* * *

><p>Olivia worked for a little while until James arrived, he got there around 8:30 and they left for the residence, she was feeling quite nervous about it so she was thankful it was James taking here there instead of Fitz. When they got there they found the first children in the living room watching tv.<p>

"Uncle James" the 9-year-old girl exclaimed when she saw James.

"Hey Karen, hey Jerry" he walked to her and gave her a hug.

"Hey uncle James" the 10 year-old boy finally looked away from the tv to give James a hug.

"Are you and uncle Cy staying here because of the snow?" Karen asked him

"We are, and she is too" he said motioning to Olivia "Olivia is an old friend on your uncle Cy and me, and she is working with your dad now" James explained to the kids.

"Hi" Olivia extended her hand to them, she wasn't really sure what to do, and the boy was looking at her funny.

"Is this the girl dad was talking about" he whispered to his sister, but it was loud enough that Olivia and James heard.

"I don't know, ask her last name" Karen whispered just as loud.

"What is your last name?" Jerry asked

"Pope" she kindly answered.

"Its is her!" the little girl exclaimed, and after that they just looked at each other and smiled, Olivia was getting concerned.

"Guys, what do you mean your dad was talking about her?" James inquired.

"They met on thanksgiving cause she wanted to buy crumb cake and ours was the last one" Jerry explained and Olivia's eyes went wide, she couldn't believe he had told his kids the story.

"A little context here" James turned to Olivia.

"Remember I told you my sister is pregnant" James nodded "Well she was craving Carlo's crumb cake and I was in New York for a client, so I went to buy one but they didn't have any, except for an special order that happened to be for the President and he got there while I was trying to buy it" Olivia explained.

"Then dad got her a ride to the airport because there was lots of traffic and she couldn't get a cab" Karen continued.

"And then she lost her flight so dad brought her on Air Force one" Jerry finished the story.

"Huh" was all that James said. Olivia just hoped he could keep it from Cyrus at least for a while.

"Miss Pope, would you like some hot chocolate? we were about to get some" Karen asked her.

"Sure, and you can call me Olivia or Liv" Olivia had expected the kids to be mad or something but they seemed cool so she agreed.  
>"What about you uncle James?" She turned to James.<p>

"Not now, thanks" Karen just nodded and ran out of the living room with her brother to find the chef and ask him for the hot cocoa and some cookies.

Olivia stayed there with James and they sat on the couch facing the tv, next to where they kids where when they arrived. She asked him to not tell Cyrus what he heard, since she knew he would not react well, James said he would try as long as he could but to be aware he had a big mouth. The kids came back a little while later with one of the aides behind them carrying a tray with three cups.

When they returned they sat on their spots again, Jerry ended up next to Olivia. The show they had been watching had ended so he said they planned to watch a movie and asked the grown-ups if they wanted to stay. It was nearing 9pm so she asked if it was ok thy were up so late, so Karen just told her it was fine since there would be no school because of the snow, so she agreed to stay. James said he was tired so he left. Surprisingly for her, they wanted to watch home alone, they were a little to young for it so she guessed Fitz had shown it to them. Karen grabbed the remote and looked for the movie on the dvr.

* * *

><p>Time passed quite fast, it was almost 10:30 and the movie was almost over, also she figured Fitz would be back soon. Olivia thought about going to bed already, but then she remembered she had no idea where she was supposed to sleep, and James was gone already so she tried to put her focus back on the movie.<p>

A few minutes later Fitz finally walked in, he had his suit jacket hanging over his shoulder, he was loosening his tie, he seemed tired, and then he just rubbed his neck with his free hand. At that moment she was hit with the sudden realization that she was being witness of this rather private moment; because even thought they were in the White House, that was his home, where he went every night after an exhausting day at work, the place where he didn't have to put on an act for others, maintain an image or watch his every move to make sure people respected him, it was a place where he could just be himself, and she found herself even more drawn to him than she did before.

A few moments later he looked up and found her staring at him, he hadn't been expecting to find her up, so he just stared back. Olivia realized she had been busted staring at him, but for some reason she couldn't understand, she didn't look away and she held his gaze. Fitz gave her a sweet smile and she blushed; but managed to smile back.

She knew something was going on, but before he brain could dwell on it too much, Cyrus walked in rather loudly and interrupted their beautiful moment. Both of them were forced back to reality and he finally saw his kids sitting next to her, awake way past their bedtime.

"Why are you guys still up?" Both kids turned to him, eyes wide as saucers.

"We were just watching a movie with Liv and there is no school tomorrow" Jerry answered quickly. Before Fitz resumed talking to his kids, Cyrus interrupted again.

"Is James down for the night already" He asked Liv.

"Yeah, he went to bed right after we got here" Liv told him.

"Ok, I'm out too, good night everyone" Fitz, Liv, and the kids mumbled goodnights and Fitz went to get the remote.

"Come on dad the movie is almost over, and are you going to interrupt the movie for our guest too?" Karen whined.

"And there is no school tomorrow" Jerry added.

"Our guest is free to keep watching the movie" he said looking at Olivia "But you need to go to bed, school is out tomorrow, but you did get up early today and I don't want you guys to be too tired to go play in the snow tomorrow" That last argument got their attention, and they finally agreed.

Fitz left with the kids, but not before telling Olivia he would be back soon; and it wasn't like she could go anywhere because she still had no idea where to go. She didn't feel it was right to keep watching the movie without the kids so she just sat there checking her e-mails, basically wasting time until he returned. There was nothing interesting until she came across an e-mail from Cyrus that had the article he was angry about the previous day. She started reading, and found herself just as outraged at all the lies that were said about Fitz, she was so focused on it she didn't realize Fitz had returned.

"You know, it's not true, what they say about me" She abruptly turned around, he was standing right behind her leaning on the back of the couch.

"Hmm… Yeah, I know, I mean, I figured" she stammered

"I didn't mean to interrupt the movie for you" he said after being silent for a moment, just looking at her. "You can finish it"

"It's ok, it wouldn't feel right, I rather watch it tomorrow with them" She replied, he smiled at the fact that she planned to stay long enough to finish watching the movie with the kids.

"So they didn't give you any trouble?" he asked

"No, they are great kids" she answered with a smile, she actually thought they were really sweet.

Fitz sighed with relief "And I thank god for that every day" he looked down at his feet for a moment and stepped away from the couch "I was going to get some tea, would you like some?" he finally spoke again.

"Sure" Olivia got up to follow him to the kitchen, and she finally noticed he had changed into pajamas. He was wearing a simple gray t-shirt and flannel pants, and she thought he looked even hotter than usual.

Fitz was walking in front of her and she could see the perfectly shaped muscles of his back, his arms, and before she could stop herself her eyes wandered to his butt, which look great on those pants. She was so distracted she nearly crashed into him when he stopped at the entrance of the kitchen to let her go in first. She chastised herself and started repeating "get it together" in her mind like it was a mantra.

He noticed how she suddenly looked very nervous, but decided to say nothing about it and focus on boiling the water fort the tea. She sat at the kitchen island and avoided looking at him.

"What kind do you like?" She finally snapped out of her thoughts, and looked at him confused "I think we have about any type of tea you can think of" Fitz added and she understood what he had asked.

"Chamomile would be nice" she told him.

"That was exactly my choice, it's a good bedtime tea, its soothing" she just nodded

The tension was palpable in the room so she was desperate to do something to break it, she figured conversation might do the trick. She thought about trivial topics, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that he sounded weird when he said he thanked god that his kids were great, like there was more to it, so going against her better judgement, she asked him about it.

"May I asked why you sounded so… weird, when you said you thanked god for your kids being the way they are?" he turned to look at her and chuckled softy.

"You noticed" he sighed and walked towards her, he sat on a stool next to her. He stayed quiet for a while gathering his thoughts and she patiently waited.

"I kind of dropped the ball as a father for a while" Olivia could see the guilt in his eyes, there was another pause. "I was too occupied with my career to see what was going on right in front of me"

"One day I was in my office, it was at the end of my term as governor I was busy with this campaign, and my kids barged into my office in tears begging me to not let their mother fire their nanny. I told them I'd see what I could do, I talked to Mellie and she had this rage fit about how awful the woman was."

"The stories from Mellie and the kids were so contradicting I realized something was wrong so I talked to her. I can't recall everything she said, but the essence of it was that Mellie was a crappy mother, she neglected the kids. She sounded sincere so I let her keep her job and made a point to pay more attention, and time proved her right"

"I began noticing things, and that's when the fighting started. It also made me realize our marriage had been dead for a while, that we simply had been ignoring each other. I wanted a divorce, but I knew it would be carnage, she would fight me for it, she would try to take the kids and it would destroy my career. I told her to just play her part for the campaign and try to be better for the kids, she wanted to be here so badly that she agreed. I figured that being president I'd have enough power to get rid of her, but really I think I was just being selfish, I wanted this pretty badly too." he moved his hands motioning to what was around him. "So I worked on being there for them even if she wasn't and just pushed through it"

"After I won it was clear it would still be pretty bad, but Jerry came up to me one day and asked why didn't I divorce her, that they would be ok with it because all she did was make us all feel bad all the time… My heart broke for my kids at that moment so I decided to do it no matter the consequences, but then I found out about the cheating, and it became easier. One her boys found out he wasn't the only one she had so he decided to come clean" The kettle whistled loudly and he went to serve the tea.

Olivia was dumbfounded, she hadn't expected him to open up to her like that, she didn't even know how to respond. He returned with two cups of steaming hot tea and placed one in front of her, she muttered a thank you. She was struggling to find the right words, but before she had a chance to say anything, he began talking again.

"When we got together I thought we wanted the same things, I thought I had found the right one, even though I was told I should be careful I didn't listen. My family never liked her, they told me I was rushing into things, but I was so desperate to prove I was being a grown up and settling down to move forward in life, that I ignored everyone"

"Whatever I went through I had it coming for being such and idiot, but I had my kids to think about and can't forgive myself for what I put them through, it wasn't their fault I picked wrong; and for a while there I was as guilty of neglecting them as she was" Fitz looked down, his eyes were beginning to water, the guilt of his past mistakes was weighing down on him, without thinking Olivia reached for his hand, he found the simple gesture quite soothing.

"You have to stop blaming yourself" she finally spoke "You made a mistake, those happen, you trust someone, you think you know them, that you want the same things and then it turns out they were just lying to your face, using you for whatever it is they wanted"

Olivia was speaking from experience, and he noticed, but decided against asking about it. He figured she would tell him if she wanted to. She still didn't feel ready to share about her life so she stopped talking, her hand was still on top of his so she slowly removed it and began sipping her tea. He did the same, they stayed quiet until they were done. Fitz was unsure on what to do next, but then he remembered he still hadn't told her which was her room so he told her he would take her there.

"Thank you for listening to me" he told her as they stood awkwardly outside her door.

"Anytime Mr. President" she answered.

"Seriously, after the conversation we just had I think we are past that, just call me Fitz" he tried again to get her to stop addressing him so formally.

"I still think it's inappropriate" she really didn't think it was a good idea.

"Come on Olivia, I don't like my friends calling me Mr. President" He insisted

"So we are friends" she asked with a tone of surprise.

"Yes… For now" he winked at her and she blushed.

"Cyrus calls you sir" she argued.

"Because if he didn't, he would loose the little respect he has for me, it's his choice not mine" Fitz smiled at her and she was loosing her resolve.

"I will think about it, good night Mr. President" she was about to go into the room, but before she had a chance to move, he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"Good night Olivia" She was expecting him to walk away, but he stood there until she went inside the room.

Olivia was willing herself to stop thinking about him to no avail, she just couldn't do it. She went to the bathroom hoping there was a toothbrush for her to use, and found it completely stocked with anything she could possibly need. Then on the bed she found a navy blue t-shirt with the presidential seal on it and a pair of flannel pants similar to the ones he was wearing. She made a mental note to thank him for it in the morning.

She decided to only use the shirt, since it was very large for her, and she got under the covers. All her efforts to think about anything else had gone out the window when she put the shirt on since it smelled like him, so she just gave in to the fact that she would be dreaming about him. Fitz was in his room thinking about her too, wondering if she was wearing his clothes or not; the image of her in his t-shirt was keeping him awake. After a while both of them drifted off to sleep wondering what would happen the next day.

* * *

><p>The kids got up early in the morning, both of them were eager to start the day and go out to play in the snow. They went to wake Fitz and he decided to cook breakfast and have the kids help. The chefs looked concerned that they were taking over the kitchen, and reluctantly left; after not being able to decide between pancakes and waffles they decided to make both. Fitz also decided to make scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and a fresh fruit salad. He wanted to go all out for his guests, mainly for Olivia, he didn't mind Cyrus and James that much.<p>

When they were almost done, he asked Karen to go get Olivia while He and Jerry prepared the table. Olivia had been up for a few minutes, she had gone to freshen up and she was just coming out of the bathroom when Karen knocked.

"Good morning Liv" the girl said out loud. "Are you up?" Olivia went back to the bathroom to grab the flannel pants and put them on before she went for the door.

"Good, morning Karen" she said as she opened the door "I am up"

"Cool, lets go eat breakfast, we cooked" she grabbed Olivia's hand and dragged her out of the room.

"Who cooked?" Olivia asked

"Me, Jerry, and dad" Karen answered.

Olivia followed the girl into the kitchen, it looked like tornado had gone through it, Fitz was busy putting the food in plates with Jerry's help. He had his shirt all splattered with batter and bacon grease.

"Good morning Mr. President" He turned to look at her and smiled.

"Good morning Olivia" he told her "I think that shirt looks way better on you than it does on me" she blushed.

"Is there anything I can help with?" she asked, ignoring his comment.

"Hmm I guess you can help the kids take the food to the table" He suggested. She went to grab a plate that was next to Jerry and noticed he had batter on his hair and face, she turned to look at Karen and realized she was covered in batter too.

"Mr. President, where are your paper towels?" She asked him.

"There" he said pointing to a spot close to the sink " Why?"

"Your kids have pancake batter all over the face" Fitz laughed and she went to get the paper towels and dampen them on the sink. Then she went back to the kids and had them sit on the stools again to clean their faces. It was a simple gesture, but it was something their own mother never did so he found it endearing.

Fitz told Cyrus to take the day off, and him being his good old grumpy self, declined having breakfast with them and stayed with James in the room, so it was just the four of them. They all had a great time, the kids were very excited about the snow and asked her to come play with them too. Olivia told them she didn't have the right gear, she actually was thinking she had no clothes to change and wanted to go home soon, but Fitz said they had plenty of snow clothes and that she could borrow his, again. She wanted to say no at first, but the kids kept insisting so she gave in.

* * *

><p>Less than two hours later Olivia was standing in her room looking at the pile of winter clothes sitting on the bed. Fitz had been half teasing her about giving her his snow clothes, the White House had an assortment of winter outwear in stock, just in case a guest came unprepared, the snow overalls and Jacket seemed to be her size or close to it; but the rest of it was indeed his clothes. There was a pair of sweatpants, a thermal shirt, a sweatshirt, and a pair of wool socks, all too large for her. After she got dressed she felt ridiculous, but she went out of the room, she had only put on the overalls and she was carrying the Jacket in her hands.<p>

Fitz was in the living room making sure the kids had all their gear, he looked like he had come out of a ski magazine.

"There you are, I forgot to give you these" Fitz handed her a beanie and a pair of gloves.

"Oh God, I can't go out like this" she told Fitz after he and at the kids had started moving.

"What are you talking about?" he asked with concern.

"Seriously, you look like you came out of a ski magazine and I look like a hobo" Fitz broke out laughing at her argument, and she just glared at him.

"You look great I promise" he said after he had calmed down

"I look like a hobo" she said looking down at her attire.

"Maybe, yeah, but a very cute hobo" he said holding back a laugh. "Come on lets go" he put his hand in the small of her back and walked her out of the residence, the kids were running in front of them to excited to walk.

They went outside to a spot where no press could see them, there was a large group of agents with them. Karen insisted they do a snowman first, so they all agreed and worked on it together. Olivia was really enjoying herself, she didn't remember the last time she'd had that much fun, after the snowman the kids made snow angels and Fitz took photos of them, then they just rolled in the snow. Jerry ran over to Fitz after a while and tackled him, Karen ran over to them and both kids started throwing snow at him, Olivia made a quick decision to snap a few photos with her phone and even take a short video, she just thought he might like to have them.

She was peacefully taking the photos when the first snowball hit her, she gave her phone to Tom and asked him to continue taking them, and she went to chase after Jerry. They all chased each other throwing everyone snowballs until Karen had the idea of making it girls vs boys. Each team took the time to build a fort before starting the snowball war again. The kids were having fun like crazy and Fitz also couldn't remember the last time he enjoyed himself so much.

They had been outside for hours when they finally got too cold and hungry and decided to go back inside. All the snowy wet clothes were left behind the minute they were indoors again so Olivia had to walk back all the way to the residence wearing just Fitz' oversized clothes, so naturally he started teasing her about looking like a hobo.

* * *

><p>Fitz had the staff light the fireplace and bring them blankets. He also got the chef to make them hot cocoa and different kinds of muffins. The four of them settled in front of the fireplace with their hot chocolate and freshly baked goods. If anyone saw them, they looked just like a regular family just hanging out after a day out, and Fitz was loving every minute of it.<p>

"Did you like Air Force One?" Jerry asked casually "I thought it was awesome the first time I traveled in it"

"It was indeed pretty cool" Olivia answered

Cyrus had gone into the living room looking for Fitz and froze on the spot when he heard Jerry, at first he thought he might have been mistaken, but then Karen told Olivia she had to take a ride on Marine One TOO, that little word confirmed he heard right the first time.

"Mr. President, may I have a word with you in private" Cyrus said through gritted teeth.

Fitz knew what was coming, he cursed in his head and turned to Olivia, who looked quite a bit worried "I got this" he whispered to her and got up to go with Cyrus. Fitz took him to the library to make sure they weren't heard.

Cyrus demanded and explanation and Fitz patiently told him the whole story about what happened in New York, the crumb cake, the ride airport, the missed flight and the ride to DC on Air Force one. When he was done he looked at Cyrus who seemed to be about to pop and told him to let it out. He started yapping about how irresponsible he was, that yeah it was Olivia but what if it had been a stranger. The old man wouldn't shut up and Fitz just stayed there quiet waiting for him to be done. After a while he realized Fitz wasn't even paying attention to him.

"You don't really care about what I'm saying" Cyrus said trying to stay calm.

"Nope" Fitz answered sincerely

"You are not thinking straight Fitz, this could be a huge mess, just imagine what will be said about you, we got her to try to clean up your image not make it worse what are you trying to accomplish?" Cyrus said getting exasperated again.

"Fine, I am interested in her, my image is in trouble, but I couldn't care less about that, I just wanted to get close to her" Cyrus tried to start talking again but Fitz held his hand up to stop him

"Im not done"

"I intend to get to know her, I intend to woo her until she thinks I'm deserving of going out on a date with her. She is the most incredible woman I have ever met and I'd be an idiot if I let her go; and as someone who has met the absolute definition of the wrong one, I think I know what the right one looks like. I don't know if I'm the right one for her, but I will try my best every day to be worthy of her because I wan't to be happy and have a family with a woman I love and that she loves me back, and I just feel it in my gut that she might be it. So I am thinking straight, I know exactly what I'm doing, I do not give a rats ass what people think, including you and I am not backing down. Does that answer your question?" Fitz had a stern look on his face and it was pretty clear to Cyrus that he would be in trouble if he kept talking, so he just nodded and left the room.

Fitz knew Cyrus very so he was well aware the old man was perfectly capable of going to Olivia and telling her something to scare her off, so he also knew he had to plan very well what he would do next.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN2: So the kids were cool about Olivia so they will not be an issue, Cyrus wasn't too happy to find out about New York but Fitz set him straight, and will try his best to keep him from scaring Olivia away. Up next we will have the National Christmas three lighting<strong>_ _**lets see how Fitz handles that ;) Do you guys think he should just ask her out or wait a little bit? let me know what you think :)**_


	4. Chapter 4

**_AN: I am so very sorry I didn't update sooner, I mean the holidays are over, but having to leave town to visit family for almost the entire break gave the worst case of writers block I've ever had and it took me forever to write this. Again, so very sorry, but here it is, I hope you guys enjoy it._**

When Fitz returned from talking with Cyrus, the kids and Olivia were getting ready to finish watching the movie they had started the previous night. Fitz suggested they should watch it again from the beginning because he hadn't been there when they started watching it, he figured that way she would stay with them for longer.  
>She ended up leaving the White House after dinner, and took his clothes with her to wash them before returning them to him. She carefully drove home expecting to find quite a few messages on her answering machine from her sister and Abby about her brief disappearance, but she had no idea it was a bit worse. Olivia got out of her car and walked fast to the elevator, trying to avoid being seen, still very self-conscious about her attire. She unlocked her door and nearly had a heart attack finding the lights on and her sister sitting on her couch.<p>

"Emily! What are you doing here?!" Olivia nearly screamed at her sister.

"I just wanted to check if you were coming home tonight" Emily replied calmly

"What are you talking about?" Olivia was trying to play it cool.

"Seriously Olivia just don't, you are wearing men's clothes and I am certain you didn't sleep here last night" Emily stated "After you called Harrison I thought you just came here after your meeting, but then I called you here this morning because you never have any food and since the roads were still blocked I was worried you would be hungry and alone, but I see that was far from the truth"

"Fine, I did spend the night at the White House" Olivia reluctantly admitted "Alone in a guest room" she added before Emily said anything.

"And you are just getting home wearing his clothes" Emily said, doubting her sister's words.

"How are you so sure this are his clothes?" Olivia said trying to distract her

"Aren't they?" Emily replied

"Well yeah but... But, it means nothing, I just needed to wear something appropriate to be outside in the snow" Olivia tried to explain

"Snow?" Emily looked at her in disbelief "You were out in the snow?" Emily couldn't remember the last time Olivia had agreed to play in the snow since they got older.

"His kids insisted and I figured it had been a while so I agreed" Olivia explained

"So you met his kids and just hung out with them" Emily was enjoying teasing her

"Yeah, they live there so I met them last night after I got to the residence and I watched a movie with them while he got there"

"Aww like a family, you waited up with the kids for the husband to come home from work" Emily said in a mock tone.

"Shut up Emily, James went to sleep before he told me which was my room so I waited to ask him" Olivia was getting annoyed because she knew where her sister was going.

"Right, and you couldn't ask anyone from the staff?" Emily said, Olivia struggled to find an excuse "I am so right, he is interested in you and you feel the same way about him!"

"Emily, stop making stuff up, nothing is going on" Olivia really wanted to ignore everything that happened but her sister made it very difficult

"Yeah, then explain the flowers" Emily had gotten up and closer to Liv

"What flowers" Olivia asked confused

"Those" Emily said pointing to Olivia's coffee table, she had been so distracted by the argument with Emily that she hadn't noticed. Emily had found them at the door when she got there. Olivia went for the flowers and looked for the card, she opened and started reading in silence.

"Thank you for an amazing day, looking forward to many more" Emily said out loud as Olivia read. She didn't know what to say so she just went to sit on the couch and her sister did the same.

"Liv all mocking aside I do believe he is interested in you, and I'm sure he would keep his distance if you were not, but that's not the case or is it?" Emily told Olivia in a more serious tone, knowing it was the only way to actually get somewhere.

"Yeah, but why, I mean, he could have anyone and..." Olivia had a hard time grasping that the President had a thing for her.

"Olivia don't sell yourself short ok, any guy would be lucky to have you, just allow yourself to like him" Emily said reassuringly

"But he is the President" Olivia argued.

"So what, that is just his job, not who he is, I've never met him but he seems like a good guy, isn't he?" Emily just wanted Olivia to be happy so she wanted her to see what was in front of her.

"He is good, more than good actually" Olivia had to be honest, and the truth was she thought he was amazing.

Emily made Olivia promise she would think about it and then proceeded to tell her sister all about her day, Emily wanted every little detail and tried her best to not tease her about it so she wouldn't shut her out. A few minutes into the conversation Liv got a text from Fitz saying he hoped she got home safe and wishing her a good night, she texted back thanking him for the flowers and also wished him a good night. Emily had to bite her tongue to not sing Fitz and Liv sitting on a tree.

Olivia did find a few messages from Abby and made a mental note to talk to her soon, also she had to brief the entire team on the assignment. It was almost midnight when Harrison arrived to pick up Emily. Liv finally went to bed allowing her mind to give into thinking about Fitz and what could happen between them.

* * *

><p>The next morning Fitz got up early and happy, he was eagerly waiting for Liv to let him know when she would be coming to the White House again. She had told him she needed to brief her team before meeting again, and that his case didn't seem too hard. He really wanted to get that out of the way, he was confident he didn't need the so called crisis to have her around anymore and at the moment it just felt like it was getting in his way.<p>

Cyrus was still brooding from his argument with Fitz the previous day, and he kept telling himself that anything happening between Fitz and Olivia would be bad news. He thought about his image and Liv's past to have an excuse to ban the relationship. He wanted to talk to Olivia, knowing he could actually get to her, but after Fitz' outburst the previous day he actually feared what might happen if he found out.

Fitz was aware Cyrus had to be up to something, even if he made it look like he would stay away like he was told. He decided he had to make his intentions clear to her before Cyrus had a chance to do anything, and tell her to ignore Cyrus and not care for anything he said. However he was also aware it was easier said than done, whenever he was around her, he felt like his brain stopped functioning properly and he certainly didn't want to say or do something stupid.

After his morning briefing, Fitz went back to his office and decided to text Liv to say good morning, she replied almost immediately telling him good morning too, that she hoped he had a good day at work and a smiley emoji. It was something very simple but it made them both feel giddy, like high schoolers with a crush. Olivia was just getting to her office when she received the text, so she walked in with a huge grin on her face that didn't go unnoticed by her friends.

"Good morning guys" she said happily.

"Good morning" Stephen and Abby replied in a much more serious tone, giving Liv a questioning look and then looking at each other to check if either of then knew anything. Harrison just looked down and smiled to himself.

"Is there anything you want to tell us?" Stephen asked her.

"Actually I do, lets go to the conference room, we have work to do" She went to the kitchen to find Quinn and then asked Stephen to get Huck, all but Harrison were very confused.

"We got a new client, a very important client actually" She started "Quinn, this is the part where we test you as a part of this team, you can't say anything about this client outside of this group" she said turning to Quinn, who just nodded repeatedly. Olivia pulled out a photo from a folder and went to paste it on the wall, when she moved they all got clear visual of who their new client was.

"Bloody Hell" Stephen exclaimed.

"The President?!" Abby said in disbelief.

"Wow" was all Quinn could say.

"This will be interesting" finally came out of Huck who barely ever spoke.

Harrison was the only one to not say anything and not show any surprise, and Abby was the only one who noticed, so while the others were talking about how cool it was she spoke up to question him.

"Why are you not surprised? You already knew right? Why does he get to know before we do?" the last question was directed at Olivia. She didn't want to tell the whole story to everyone, she wanted to talk to Abby alone, so she had to be careful.

"He just happened to be there when I got the call, and I wanted to know what it was all about before I told the rest of you." they were all contempt with her explanation, Abby still eyed her suspiciously, but dropped it for the moment.

"So what did pretty boy do?" Abby had a thing for always thinking the worse.

"Nothing bad Abby calm down, he just wants us to work on his image, it's been doing poorly since his divorce" Olivia explained. "Now, he is not going to make the reason for the divorce public, and it has been a while, so we need to focus on showing all the good he is doing and on how he is as a father. I will see if I can bring someone to the White House or if I have some of the files brought here. In the meantime start working on some strategies" The team started moving to their offices, she told Huck to stay for a bit and Abby that she would to to her later.  
>"I need you to do something, but I need you to wait for me to give you the green light, just until this afternoon. I have a bad feeling the former First Lady is up to something. She knows already he won't bring her down publicly and I'm afraid she will try to take advantage of that and do something against him. So I want you to look into her, what she has been doing, or who has she been talking to, but I want to ask the President if it's ok with him" Olivia just thought it was very weird that Mellie had been so quiet for so long, that she hadn't attempted to start her political life yet, so she feared it meant she was plotting against Fitz. Huck was the man to put on that job, but she had to ask Fitz if it was ok with him first.<p>

Huck left for his office and Olivia or her's, she wanted to tell Fitz she was planning on going to the White House later that day, and thought it was more appropriate to call instead of texting him, but really she just wanted to talk to him. He answered on the second ring.

"Hello Olivia" she felt shivers down her spine after hearing his voice.

"Hello Mr. President" her voice was just music to his ears.

"How are you?" he asked her.

"I'm good thanks, how are you?" she replied politely.

"Better now that I'm talking to you" she was quite glad he couldn't see her blushing.

"So… Hmm… I was just calling to… for the meeting later today, I mean if you can" she stammered, trying to get to the reason she made the call.

"You are welcome here anytime, but I'm glad you called, so I make sure I'm free for you" he said with a flirty tone.

"Ok, I was thinking 4pm, and also I wanted to ask you if it was ok if I bring someone else from my firm to check out the files and maybe take some of them for the rest of the team to work at OPA" He figured it was more than ok, he would start meeting her friends and maybe he would get more time with her if someone else was taking care of the work.

"Sure, bring anyone you want, just tell me the names for security clearance" Fitz replied

"I haven't decided yet, how about I text you later" She still had the very difficult task of deciding who would be coming with her.

"I'd prefer if you call, but a text is fine" Olivia blushed, again, but she couldn't help the smile appearing on her lips

She awkwardly ended the phone call and tried to get back to work, she had to finish some stuff for other clients. When it was almost time for lunch she asked Abby if she wanted to order some food and eat in her office so they could talk. Of course Abby agreed, she was desperate to know what was going on. She even told Liv they should start talking while waiting for the food.

"Spill" she told Olivia as soon as she closed the door behind her.

Olivia sat down and started telling her the whole story, since thanksgiving, how they met, that he hired the firm because of his divorce, Abby also said he hadn't really asked her number for work. Then Liv figured it was best to just get it all out and told her she had basically spent the last two days at the White House.

"Well he is the only republican I don't hate so I approve of him" She said to Olivia after she was done telling the story.  
>"So you agree with Emily" Realizing they wouldn't allow her to stay in denial, and even though she didn't want to accept it, she knew she would thank them later.<p>

"Yeah, it's clear as water to be honest, now when do I get to meet him?" Abby was curious to meet him, but more than that she wanted to make sure he wasn't going to hurt her friend.

"Seriously Abby? You can't just casually ask to meet the President" Olivia was not sure that was a good idea.

"Well we do work for him, or does he only want to do business with you" she said the last part in a suggestive tone.

"Abby! God you are something else. And yes we all work for him, I guess you can come with me this afternoon, just behave please" Olivia finally decided her first tag along, since Fitz said she could bring anyone, she decided two people were ok.

Their food got there and they just kept talking about Fitz, because Abby wouldn't let the subject drop. Olivia asked her friend for advice on who else should join them to go to the White House, and they agreed to take Stephen since he had more experience with public image, Harrison was more for legal matters and Quinn was the rookie.

Abby wouldn't leave her office so she decided to text Fitz instead of calling him, he replied saying he would take care of it and that he was looking forward to seeing her.

In the time they had before going to the White House they discussed a few ideas for Fitz that revolved around the Holidays. Olivia had gone through the plans for the National Christmas tree lighting and the rest of the holiday events and there wasn't much. She considered it was a perfect opportunity for Fitz to show who he was and they seemed to be wasting it. It was already Thursday, the lighting of the tree was the next day so she just hoped they still had some time to make a few changes and add a few things.

* * *

><p>After 3pm Fitz was barely able to get any work done, he was too distracted thinking of Olivia, but he had to do his best to hide it because Cyrus was there. Fitz was hoping to dismiss Cyrus before Olivia got there and make sure he stayed away the whole time she was there; but then he knew it was out of the question when Cyrus said he wanted to know what they were doing about his image and that he had until 4:30. Fitz didn't want to have a fight with his chief of staff so he decided to go about it a different way.<p>

"Cyrus, remember what we talked about yesterday?" He wanted to remind Cyrus to behave.

"Yes sir I do" Cyrus said through gritted teeth.

"Well I meant what I said, if you say anything to her, you will regret it" Fitz was calm, but serious, he had a stern look on his face and it made Cyrus feel uneasy.

"I know" he replied.

"I just want to make sure you behave later, I don't want to see myself in the need of having you removed from the premises" Fitz was smiling, but he was dead serious and Cyrus knew it, he had never seen his boss that way and it actually made him hesitant to take any action against Fitz' plans.

Fitz moved the conversation back to work like nothing had happened and Cyrus had no choice but to do the same and put the conversation behind him and focus on the task at hand. A few minutes before the clock marked 4pm Lauren knocked on the door to announce the arrival of Olivia. Fitz gave a final deadly look to Cyrus and walked around his desk to be ready to meet her.

As Olivia was walking in Fitz caught glimpse of Stephen's hand in the small of her back leading her inside the office, he felt a pang of jealousy course through him, his smile faded and his jaw clenched. The familiarity between them was making him uncomfortable. Abby was right behind her just taking it all in, trying to asses the situation; she followed Fitz stony gaze fixed on Stephen, he and Olivia were both oblivious to it, wrapped up in their conversation.

When Olivia finally turned to look at him she also noticed the hard expression on his face and looked at him confused, he realized she was looking at him and he turned to look at her. The moment their eyes met his expression instantly softened and he gave her a warm smile. Olivia blamed his previous demeanor on Cyrus and didn't give it much thought, but Fitz was seriously regretting telling her she could bring anyone.

"Profesor Beene!" The tension in the room was broken by Stephens loud greeting to Cyrus.

"It's Chief of Staff now, but you can call me sir" he said with a light growl. "Seriously Olivia, why didn't you bring your brother in law" Stephen had been rather a troublemaker back in law school, and Abby hadn't been much better. "Miss Whelan, you are here too…" he said with dread.

"Cyrus, be nice, they are my team" Olivia chastised him, he just mumbled whatever and she rolled her eyes.

"Mr. President, this is half of my team, and very good friends, Stephen Finch and Abby Whelan" Fitz greeted both of them politely, but gave Stephen an unnecessary extra strong handshake, he felt the slight pain in his hand and wondered what he could have done to anger him; however as much as he was disliking Stephen he recognized he provided a something else for Cyrus to chew on.

"Ok, let's get to work, we need to get this plan started already" Cyrus thought that if they focused on work, it would get in the way of whatever Fitz was planning.

"You are right, so I need Stephen to get a few files from the ones we went through on Tuesday, and We need to discuss a few changes to the holiday plans with the President" She motioned to Abby as she explained to Cyrus.

"Cyrus can go Stephen to get those" Fitz suggested, that way he got rid of both, but he didn't see the flaw in his plan.

"Yeah but neither of us know exactly what she needs" Cyrus replied.

"How about I go with you to tell you what to look for, then you work on making a list on all the stuff we don't need to repeat and I come back here for the more pressing matters" Olivia suggested, and it made Fitz feel better, she would go with Stephen but only briefly. "So Abby please behave while I return" she added. Abby knew that was her chance to talk to him and just nodded at her friend.

Cyrus grunted his agreement, realizing he was being left out, but as hard is was to accept he was happy Abby was there so Fitz and Olivia wouldn't be alone. They made a beeline out of the Oval, leaving Abby with the President. He invited her to sit on one of the sofas and he sat opposite to her.

"So you are one of Olivia's best friends" Abby nodded

"So you are the guy who wants to get in her pants" Fitz just looked at her in shock.

"Excuse me" Fitz said not believing the nerve of the woman. "How did you even reach that conclusion? You met me 5 minutes ago!"

"So you are not interested in her?" Abby asked him

"Well yeah I am, but I'm not trying to get in her pants, my intentions with her are honest, I really like her so I want to get to know her and court her properly, I', quite serious about her." He told Abby with confidence.

"Ok, I was just testing you, and I guess you passed" Fitz looked at her like she had grown another head.

"First, you didn't have me arrested, and second, you sound trustable, but just know that if you hurt her, the secret service won't be able to protect you from me" Fitz nodded, actually feeling a bit afraid of her.

"I swear, I would never do anything to hurt her" Fitz assured Abby. "Just calm down please"

"Look, I'm just very protective of her, experience requires me too" she explained, leaving Fitz wondering if he should be looking for an ex to punch in the face.

"Moving on, how did you find out, did she say something? Or do I show it so much?" He wanted to know how Olivia felt.

"A bit of both, she told me all that happened since thanksgiving and she just looked so giddy and excited, and considering all your actions, yeah you show it that much" Fitz was about to respond but she interrupted him "Also you were giving poor Stephen a murderous look when we got here, but please leave the guy alone, he is like a brother to Liv, nothing more"

Hearing Abby, he felt a bit ashamed for his actions, and decided to try his best to be nicer to Stephen in the Future. He used the time to find out more things about Olivia, Abby told him she did like roses but that she also loved carnations, jasmines and gardenias. Fitz asked about her favorite food, and her friend said she loved Italian, but that cheese and spinach ravioli and lasagna in any type were her favorites. Abby also said her friend had a sweet tooth, which he already knew.

He was also told that even though she liked romance she wasn't a big fan of exaggerated grand gestures, that she liked simpler things. Fitz took the advice with pleasure, finding it very useful for future planning. Right before Olivia returned, Abby hurriedly mentioned a few things about his public image strategy.

"Did she behave Mr. President?" he asked Fitz about Abby and he smiled.

"Yeah she was ok"

"I was just talking to him about how lame are the current Holiday plans" Olivia glared at Abby.

"They are not lame, they are just missing something" she told Fitz.

"No it's true they are lame, but I have been very busy and the staff has no idea what to do without a First Lady here" His team had simply cut out all the things the First Lady does, leaving barely anything.

"I figured, but I think you are perfectly capable of doing many of those things, and that's what we want to show people" Olivia began to explain. "My first suggestion is for tomorrow" Olivia proceeded to tell him about her plan. She wanted him to do the reading of "A visit from St. Nicholas" besides doing his speech. She knew there were children invited to the event. That was fairly simple, she knew he would say yes, but the second part of her plan included the First Children.

"I know you don't want to showcase your kids or use them in any way, but they are your kids and it gives the wrong impression that you leave them out of everything" she began with caution, when he didn't refuse right away she took her cue to continue "I was thinking maybe they could do the reading with you" she finally said "Only if they want to, of course"

He sat there quiet for a while thinking about her plan, what she said wasn't totally crazy and maybe the kids would actually like it, but he was still unsure about involving them.

"Don't think of it as a strategy, it's just that there is nothing wrong with including your children in things you do every once in a while. You guys might enjoy it, aside from the fact that it will help your image" She made her case and really hoped he didn't get mad, she was well aware of how protective he was of his kids.

"I guess it doesn't sound that bad, and the theme of this holidays is family, not that it has worked so well" Fitz said reluctantly. He had been in charge of doing all the Holiday decisions the First Lady is supposed to do, but really he delegated to a lot of people, because he was busy running the country so people were quite unimpressed by the White House holidays that year. "I'll just call them in so we can figure this out.

Olivia waited patiently for Fitz to call the residence and ask the nanny to bring the kids down to the Oval. When he was done she continued with her suggestions.

"I saw they canceled the reading at the Children's National Medical Center, that is a very old tradition and I think you should do it" She really believed he could make some space in his agenda and it would make a huge difference.

"God I hadn't realized they had canceled that" Fitz knew the tradition, but it didn't cross his mind it was canceled because he didn't have a First Lady, he realized he needed to have a conversation with his staff and ask them to stop canceling everything before asking if he could do it.

"There is also this thing sometimes is done with kids from different organizations, they come here to decorate cookies and well also eat them" Abby added "Maybe you can do that too"

"Yeah I can definitely make time for those, I will work something out with Cyrus" Fitz found her ideas quite good and he thought people might actually stop hating him. "Is there anything else I could do that was canceled because im divorced?" He asked Olivia

"There are a few, but I don't know how much can be done now, because it would be very short notice, but I think you could greet a couple of choir groups too, and we need to make sure all the parties and open houses are a success." Fitz nodded in agreement.

A few minutes later Karen and Jerry walked into the room, they were excited to find out why Fitz had asked them to come to his office in the middle of a work day, they always wanted to spend more time with him.

"Hey dad" Jerry greeted him. Karen went up to him to give him a hug.

"Hey guys" Fitz said after he kissed their cheeks "I wanted to ask you something" he went to sit on the couch with them.

"You remember the poem 'Twas the night before Christmas?" Fitz asked them

"Yeah I love it" Karen replied and Jerry nodded.  
>"Well I wanted to ask if you guys would like to read it with me at the Christmas tree lighting tomorrow"<p>

"That would be so cool, can I get a new dress?" Karen replied excited

"Yeah it would be pretty cool" Jerry added "Will you practice the reading with us, cause there will be a lot of people watching so we have to say it right"

"I'm not sure there's time to go shopping today, but I will see if I can work something out, also you might want to get a new coat because it will be very cold and yes of course I will practice with you"

The kids then turned to Olivia and greeted her warmly, they asked if she would be joining them for the tree event the next day, and she said she would probably be at her office or there at the White House seeing polls and doing work stuff. Fitz had other plans, he had decided to save her a spot right where his family is supposed to be seated and he wouldn't take no for an answer.

Fitz excused himself to go see if the kids could be taken somewhere to get new clothes that afternoon and the stayed with Olivia and Abby. She introduced them to her Abby and, and then they just talked to Liv, asking when she would hang out with them again at the residence and when she would take a ride on Marine one. Abby just gave Liv funny looks about her interaction with his kids.

When he returned he told them to go finish their homework fast so they could go out, he told Jerry he could also get a new outfit, he said he didn't mind but Karen was very excited. The kids said goodbye to everyone and left them to keep working. Olivia needed to discuss what she wanted Huck to do, but she wasn't sure Abby could be there so she asked her to go check on Stephen. When they were finally alone she hesitantly brought up the issue.

"Mr. President, hmm… there is something I wanted to discuss with you" Fitz looked at her and began getting worried.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked.

"Not really, it's just a delicate subject, it's about your ex-wife" Fitz nodded understanding why she was going around the point.

"Ok, just tell me what is it?" he encouraged Olivia.

"I want to have one of my guys look into her deeply. She has been to quiet since she left and I have a bad feeling about it. From what you told me, I thought she'd want to start her political career or do something, but she hasn't. That leaves me thinking she has something planned against you, knowing you won't use what you have against her publicly" Olivia explained her concerns, and he thought it made perfect sense.

"You are absolutely right, it hadn't even crossed my mind, but that sounds like her" Fitz said with dread. "Do whatever you think it's needed, I trust you"

"We got this" she said to him and smiled reassuringly, then she got her phone out to text Huck he had the clear. Fitz waited while she texted Huck, knowing it was his chance to ask about the tree lighting.

"Since we are alone, I wanted to ask you something" He began "I want you to come to the tree lighting tomorrow, as my guest"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, I mean, I should be working, seeing how people are taking it and everything" she tried to get out of it.

"I'm sure your team can do it just fine" he got up and went to sit next to her "Please, I really want you to be there, it would mean a lot to me" he grabbed her hand and gazed into her eyes. She not only lost her will to say no, she also lost her ability to think or move.

"Ok" she said barely above a whisper.

"Thank you" me whispered back.

Fitz was still holding her hand and sitting really close to her when Abby came back in the room with Stephen in tow, they looked at them and she smiled. Stephen turned to give Abby a questioning look and she just nodded.

"Is that why he tried to break my hand?" Stephen asked Abby in a low voice and she nodded again. Then she cleared her throat loudly and made them both jump. Olivia wanted to move away, but she was at the end of the couch and he wasn't moving.

"You got all you need?" She asked Stephen awkwardly.

"Yeah, I got it" he said suppressing a smile.

"You know what, I think we should go work on some statements, and plan a couple of interviews and you guys can work on redoing the script for the christmas message video" Abby suggested, gaining a glare from Liv and a thankful smile from Fitz.

"That is a great idea, you can use the same conference room where Stephen was working" Fitz told them.

"Ok, lets go" Abby grabbed Stephen's arm and led him out of the room leaving Fitz alone with Liv.

* * *

><p>They did work on the script for a while, but then the conversation began diverting and they ended up talking about christmas traditions. Both of them were enjoying their time together, simply getting to know each other better. Olivia told him that her family had been doing a christmas song karaoke on christmas day for quite sometime and that she love it because it gave them a bunch of fun memories. She was laughing heartily telling him about the time her siblings fought over a song and knocked down the tree; he thought she sounded like an angel.<p>

Fitz told her that when he was young his family barely ever stayed home for the holidays or with more family, that they usually just traveled somewhere snowy because his mom loved it. It was nearing 6:30 pm and Olivia said it was time for her to leave so he could get back to work. He didn't want her to go, he didn't care if he had to work extra late if meant she would stay for longer, but then she reminded him he had to go practice the reading with his kids.

"I had a great time today Olivia" He said as they stood up.

"I did too Mr. President" she replied with a smile.

"Could we please drop the 'Mr. President'" He took one of her hands and got closer to her.

"I don't think so" she answered nervously.

"Please" He pleaded, his eyes boring right through her.

"I will think about it" it was the second time she told him that, he figured it was better not to push her and he nodded.

"I'll be looking forward to seeing you tomorrow Miss Pope" he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it softly.

Olivia walked away in daze, she barely registered when he asked her to say goodbye to her friends for him. She willed her brain back to reality as she walked to find her friends, she told them to pack what they needed fast so they could leave, and they shared a laugh when they saw her stare into nothing as she waited for them. As was expected they teased her the entire ride back to the office and only agreed to stop when Quinn was present, because she was still earning their trust.

* * *

><p>Fitz went up to the residence at 7, the kids were having dinner a bit later than usual because they had gone out so he was able to join them. After eating they went to take a shower and returned eager to hang out with their dad. First they split the story in three and decided what each of them would read, Fitz had printed three copies and they highlighted their parts. He had to admit the whole plan had turned out better than he expected, whatever happened the next day or with his image, he'd had a great time with them, and for that it was worth it.<p>

He went back to work after he put the kids to bed, and he didn't care, he wouldn't even mind if he had to spend all night working if it was for spending time with Olivia or his children. For the first time a very long time he felt good about life, and even his parenting had been positively impacted and it was all thanks to her. When he finally went to bed he fell asleep making plans for asking her out and feeling better than ever.

After spending the afternoon with Fitz, Olivia decided to take on her sisters advice and allow herself to like him, to be excited about being close to him and just look forward to the next time they would meet; even if she still had trouble believing he wanted her of all people. She went to bed thinking of him, as it was now usual.


	5. Chapter 5

**_AN: So... finally chapter 5, hope you guys enjoy please review :)_**

* * *

><p>Olivia got up the next morning to a text from Fitz wishing her a good morning, she texted right back with a similar message. That simple gesture made the beginning of the day a whole lot better for both of them. She called Huck to get to the office early to discuss his early findings on Mellie's activities. So far it seemed she had found the sponsorship of the rich and evil lobbyist Hollis Doyle, but he was still yet to find out what was she going after.<p>

If Mellie was plotting anything that would directly affect Fitz they needed to make a plan to stop her, but if she had just got Hollis for her political aspirations then they would stay away and just keep an eye on her. Olivia just hoped Fitz didn't ask details of how Huck got the information, because she was well aware that some things he did were illegal.

When Abby got to the office Olivia called her in to talk to her about not working that afternoon. She wanted Abby to be at the White House leading the team, they had to monitor the stats from the streaming, the social media, whatever they said on tv about it, and check the polls. Abby of course made a big deal about her going as a guest before finally accepting taking responsibility for all the work. She would take Stephen again just to spite Cyrus, and also Quinn, leaving Harrison to hold the fort at the office. Huck was left out of that, per Olivia's request, simply saying that he was on something else.

The rest of the morning went by in a rush, Fitz had said he needed her at the White house at 3pm, so she left her office before 1pm so she would have barely enough time to get ready. When she was pulling into her parking lot, she got a text from Fitz saying the car would be there at 2:30 to pick her up, she was shocked to say the least, which made her call him before she realized what she was doing.

"What do you mean the car will be here to pick me up at 2:30?" She asked as soon as he picked up.

"No hi, hello, how are you?" he answered nonchalantly

"Hi, hello, how are you, now what did you mean with that text?" She asked again.

"I thought it was pretty clear, I think it's enough time to be here at three" he replied

"l… yeah that part was clear, but why, I mean you didn't tell me, we didn't discuss that" she stammered.

"Oh didn't I?" he said casually "My bad, but seriously did you think I was just going to have you drive yourself after I asked you to come to the event as my guest?"

"I guess I did" she answered after a few seconds of trying to think of an argument.

"Well, as much as I love talking to you, I must go supervise showering and readying of my two young ones, so is everything ok?"

"Yes, I will see you later" she knew there was no point to argue.

"I can't wait, goodbye" he hung up the phone with a huge smile on his face, feeling so good not even Cyrus could spoil his mood.

Fitz had the kids picked up from school early so they had time to get ready, he left for the residence right after his call with Olivia because they were already home. He would help them and then he had to get ready too so they had time for more practice before it was time to leave.

* * *

><p>Olivia arrived at the White House shortly before 3pm, and she was lead straight to the residence. She walked inside and found Fitz in the living room struggling to fix Karen's hair, she smiled at the sight and stood there quiet for a moment just looking at him. Fitz and Jerry were wearing navy blue coats and matching dark red scarfs, Karen was wearing a coat the same color as the scarfs and a hers was navy blue. She thought they looked absolutely adorable.<p>

"Hi guys" she decided to greet all of them.

"Hi" Fitz had to fight the urge to go to her since he had his daughters hair in his hands.

"Do you need help?" Fitz was doubtful, but Karen answered for him.

"Yes please, dad has no idea what he is doing" she turned to look at him "I know you tried dad, it's ok" Fitz moved and allowed Olivia to step in.

"Would you like a braided hairband?" Olivia asked her

"Oh yeah that sounds cool" Karen answered.

Olivia worked effortlessly of Karen's hair, she thought it was sweet Fitz tried to do it even though they had people hired for that. They left a bit after 3:30, Fitz managed to sit next to her in the limo and the kids were seated one next to each of them. Fitz couldn't even begin to describe the way he was feeling, it further confirmed what he already knew he wanted; Olivia was the woman for him and he would do whatever it took for them to become a family.

"You look beautiful" he whispered in Olivia's ear making her shiver. They had spent most of the ride in silence, just listening to the children ramble about their excitement. He knew once they got to the park, there wouldn't be much time for them to be at peace together.

Olivia turned to face him, and gasped when she realized he hadn't moved. Their faces were almost touching. She struggled to form the sentence in her head before answering. "You don't look bad yourself Mr. President"

Fitz was lost in her eyes, all he could think about was kissing her. The world had faded around them, neither of them moved. She knew that wasn't the time or place, but she had lost the ability to think clearly. Karen and Jerry had gone quiet, they were looking at them and giggling but they didn't notice. Fitz was about to kiss her and there was a knock on the door, they had arrived at their destination.

Olivia was shaken back to reality by the sound, she moved away from him abruptly and bumped into Jerry. It was that moment it hit her that the kids had been watching and she blushed 10 shades of red. She turned too look at Fitz who was just as red and he gave her a sheepish grin. There was another knock on the door and they got out of the limo.

They were led to the place were Fitz was supposed to wait until the ceremony started. The staff was going over the last details, explaining everything they would be doing. Time passed by pretty fast and in the blink of an eye it was a quarter to 5 and Olivia had to go take her seat.

* * *

><p>Fitz stood there with Karen and Jerry and the three of them did the countdown together for him to light the tree. After the lighting they would be reading the poem so when they were done the kids would take their seats before he did the speech. People seemed quite shocked when everything was set up for it, everyone had assumed there would be no reading, and they were even more shocked to see the three of them come out and take a seat in front of the kids they had invited.<p>

He had wanted one of them to start the reading and Karen was more comfortable doing it, Jerry would continue and then Fitz. They decided to keep doing the reading in that order, each of them doing a verse. Karen sat up straight and looked at her dad for a bit of encouragement before she began.

"'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house  
>not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.<br>The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,  
>in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there." Karen read with confidence.<p>

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds,  
>while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.<br>And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,  
>had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap." Jerry continued<p>

"When out on the roof there arose such a clatter,  
>I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.<br>Away to the window I flew like a flash,  
>tore open the shutter, and threw up the sash." It was finally Fitz' turn to read and the audience was completely captivated.<p>

In the order they read the verses it was Fitz who finished the poem and that just wrapped it up beautifully, everyone loved it. After they started suddenly the numbers went up on the streaming and it was all over social networks. He was happy, the kids were happy and the country was happy so the whole thing had been a total success. He left the stage after a loud round of applause and then everything was set for his speech.

The speech that was originally written for Fitz to say at the ceremony completely ignored the problems and rejection he had been facing since the divorce. It talked a lot about family in a way that it sounded like Fitz was pretending nothing had happened, almost like he was mocking what was said about him. Olivia knew it wouldn't be taken well so she made a few changes to it.

In the new version he did talk about it, instead of just sweeping it under the rug, Olivia thought it was far better for him to acknowledge the issues with his reputation and all the distrust people felt towards him and his commitment to family. It was risky to bring it up on that particular event, but she knew it could be much worse if he didn't. Fitz delivered a speech in which he said he knew how his situation looked, but explained that he only wanted what was best for his family. The purpose was to communicate that sometimes is better to part ways and that all types of families are valid, that him being divorced shouldn't diminish his family status.

Abby was going over social media response and things seemed to be looking up, other divorcees were showing support saying it was true staying together could end up being worse for everyone involved and expressed gratitude on him saying there's not only one right way to have a family. The views on the streaming had actually gone up when he started talking about his issues so they were doing well.

Fitz kept glancing at her all through the speech and she was concerned someone would notice, but he didn't seem to care, he just couldn't help but stare at the woman who had stole his heart and made him a better man in such a short amount of time. Much to her relief no one gave much thought to her being there sitting next to his kids because James was there too and people just assumed she was there for work.

* * *

><p>After everything was over they went back to the White House, on the way there Fitz and the kids insisted she stayed to have dinner with them, she was having such a good time, she said yes without giving it much thought. Olivia figured that if she was allowing herself to like him and entertaining the possibility of something happening between them, she had to stop trying to run or resist him.<p>

They were all quite hungry so they went straight to the dining room after they arrived at the residence. Fitz had asked the chef to prepare lasagne bolognese since he had already planned to invite her for dinner and it worked great for everyone because Karen and Jerry loved it too. The food was served promptly and Olivia eyed him suspiciously when she saw what the were having.

"This is one of my favorite dishes" she told Fitz after she got her plate.

"Oh really, good to know" he replied supressing a smile.

Olivia took her first bite and realized it had been prepared with both mozzarella and cream cheese just how she liked it and she eyed him suspiciously, realizing maybe he knew more than she thought.

"Did you talk to Abby about anything other than work?" she asked him while still eyeing him suspiciously.

"Maybe…" he said failing to stop himself from smiling.

"Very sneaky Mr. President" she told him in a flirty tone. For a moment they were again oblivious to the children watching them.

"Why do keep calling him Mr. President" Karen asked innocently, shaking Olivia out of her daze.

"Because he is the President so it woubld be inappropriate not to do it" Olivia answered politely, trying to hide her nervousness.

"But you guys are friends" Jerry countered "right?"

"Yeah… we are friends" she admitted.

"So why don't you call him Fitz, his friends call him that, and it sounds weird that you keep calling him Mr. President." Karen told her

She blushed and Fitz just smiled, he mentally thanked his kids for bringing it up, that way he thought it was more likely for her to agree. Olivia turned to look at him for help, but she already knew that was a lost cause, he just gave her his most charming smile which made her cheeks burn up even more.

"I guess you guys have a point" she finally told the kids

"What do you think dad?" Jerry asked Fitz

"I think she can call me whatever she wants, but yeah I would very much like it if she called me Fitz" The three of them were looking at her expectantly, he just hoped he wasn't pushing it too much.

"Well then it's settled I shall call you Fitz now" she said to him at last. He gasped upon finally hearing his name come out of her lips, at that moment he felt like his heart was bursting with joy.

The children went back to their meals like nothing had happened and Olivia followed suit, she and Fitz just continued eating attempting not to dwell on the significance of what had just happened. After a few minutes of awkward glances and quiet eating, everything eased back to normal. Before they knew it it was time for dessert and a box from Carlo's was brought in.

"My chef was a bit offended by this, but I heard Carlo's has the best cannoli" he explained.

"Abby has a big mouth" she said with a chuckle.

"These are so good, remember we had this with grandma and grandpa?" Jerry said to Karen, who just nodded eagerly.

"Can we eat them now?" Karen asked Fitz, who had again gotten distracted with Liv

"Sure, yeah, lets dig in" he told his daughter while thinking he had to exercise some self-control and not forget his kids were there too.

The rest of the meal was uneventful, after they were all done with dessert it was time for Karen and Jerry to go to bed, Fitz sent them to get ready and after a few minutes he excused himself to go tuck them in. He and Liv had moved to the living room so she just sat there enjoying the fireplace while he returned, her logical side was telling her it was getting late and she should leave, but she had decided to ignore it and do what she really wanted.

* * *

><p>Fitz returned from putting the kids to bed he brought a bottle of red wine and suggested they drink to celebrate the success of the evening. She loved red wine so she didn't even try to talk herself out of staying. After toasting to the wonderful evening they just sat there in comfortable silence sipping the wine and enjoying the company.<p>

"Thanks for helping me with Karen" It was Fitz who broke the silence.

"It was my pleasure" Liv turned to him and gave him a warm smile.

"I'd like to say it was my idea, but after I combed through Jerry's hair she asked me if I could fix her hair too and I how could I say no, but I really had no idea what I was doing so thank you, I guess I will be looking up youtube tutorials later tonight"

"I could teach you" Olivia volunteered, sometimes it just amazed her how when it came to Fitz she just didn't think things twice or worry about everything that could go wrong.

"I'd love that, but you would have to come here more often" he said in a mock serious tone.

"I guess you are right" she really didn't mind seeing him more often and neither did him.

They talked for a little while longer and eventually the bottle was empty and she took it as her cue to leave. Just as she was getting up to start saying goodbye it suddenly hit her she had left his clothes at her apartment.

"Oh god I totally forgot to bring your clothes" she exclaimed

"That's alright, I honestly think you should keep 'em, they look way better on you than they do on me" he said trying ease her worry.

"I don't think so, I will bring them tomorrow"

"So you are coming here tomorrow?"

"I was planning to drop by and check on things before you leave for the children's hospital" she felt like she needed to clear it was for work, but she changed her mind a bit along the way "and you need to get started on those hair styling lessons" she added.

"That is absolutely true" Fitz stepped in closer to her, he really wanted to ask her out on a date, but he was getting nervous and wasn't sure what to do.

"I guess I should get going" she said after he was quiet for a moment.

"Right, there's a car waiting for you" he knew he really needed to snap out of it and just do it but he was struggling to get the words out. Olivia reached for her coat to get ready to leave

"Ok… hmm… good night" she wasn't sure what to do either, she thought he was standing in her way, but he wasn't doing anything. She started moving to go around him when he finally spoke.

"I wanted to ask you something" he blurted out. Olivia stopped and turned to him again, they locked eyes and the room filled with tension.

"Would you like to have dinner with me... I know we've shared meals I mean like... Like a date" he stammered. Olivia was anxious at first when she realized what was happening, but after realizing he was feeling the same way it made her feel a lot calmer.

"I would love to go on a date with you Fitz" it was the second time that night she said his name, she had avoided it after the conversation with the kids, but at that moment it just felt right.

Fitz breathed a sigh of relief, despite his not so smooth words she had not only said yes, but also she was finally using his first name. Both of them were just standing there smiling at each other, he was just trying to remind himself he was going to speak again.

"So hmm... Is next Friday ok?" He wanted to have enough time to plan something special.

"Yeah next Friday works for me" she smiled at him sweetly

"Ok, next Friday it is" he replied

"Ok hmm I'll see you tomorrow I guess"

"I'll walk you out" Fitz helped put her coat on and then went to grab his.

They walked in silence until they reached the spot where the car was waiting to take her home, he wanted to go with her but he knew she would probably freak out and it would give his agents plenty of trouble. So instead Fitz decided to plan accordingly so he could take her home after their date. He opened the door for her and just like the day they met he kissed her cheek.

"You have no idea how happy you just made me" he whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. "Good night Livvie" he told her after he moved so she could get in the car.

"Goodnight Fitz" she told him, he heart was racing, and still trying to come to terms with the fact that he wanter her over anyone else.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Finally they will have their first date, Emily and Abby will most likely freak out. Also Fitz needs to do something because Cyrus is still plotting. Hopefully everything will be ok.<strong>_


End file.
